Brazilian government approves Brasilia metro projects

BRAZIL’s Ministry of Cities has authorised the Federal District government to proceed with a Reais 333.4m ($US 103m) project to upgrade and extend Brasilia’s metro network.

The deal was signed at a ceremony held at the Planalto Palace attended by Brazil’s president, Mr Michel Temer, the minister of cities, Mr Alexandre Baldy, the governor of Brasília, Mr Rodrigo Rollemberg, and the president of Metrô-DF and board member of the National Association of Passenger Rail Operators (ANPTrilhos), Mr Marcelo Dourado.

The federal government will fund Reais 289.3m of the project through its Growth Acceleration Programme (PAC) while the remaining Reais 43.7m will come from the Brasília government.

The project comprises:

• modernisation of the signalling and control system on the 42km metro to reduce headways, which are currently restricted to 3min 35s, and upgrade the power supply system at a cost of Reais 129m• construction of a 3.68km extension to the Samambaia branch including two new stations at a cost of Reais 186.5m, and• construction of a viaduct on Estrada Parque Indústrias Gráficas (Epig) for a new bus corridor at a cost of Reais 17.7m.